The Holy Spirit, so much a force at Jesus’ baptism, remains the source of Christian inspiration and power.
Here’s a transcript:
I’m thinking about the third chapter of Luke’s Gospel, the baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:15-17, 21-22).
The lectionary jumps around just a little bit. We get a couple of verses from John the Baptist and then we skip just a couple of verses to get to the description of the baptism itself. They have something in common.
John told his listeners that there was one coming who was greater than he, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And then in the description of the baptism itself Luke told us that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. Then came the voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The connection, of course, is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that John promised would be the baptism of those who followed his successor, the Holy Spirit who inspired Jesus himself.
The Holy Spirit remains not just a vital thought but a vital force in the Christian Church and in individual Christians to this very day. We understand the Holy Spirit as being not just an attribute of God, but a person of God in the Trinity. This is the One who gathers the Church together; this is the One who energizes and organizes the Church. This is also the One who inspires and guides and empowers individual Christians as they seek out their way of living out God’s call.
So the question is not, “Is there a Holy Spirit?” The question is, “How is this Spirit guiding you? How is the Spirit guiding me? How is the Spirit guiding us in the fulfillment of God’s will?”
Jesus… well, Jesus left the place of his baptism and spent quite a long time alone in the wilderness to try to figure that out. Only then did he begin his preaching ministry. So you and I we may very well need time to understand what God’s call is to us in this place and time.
But when we do understand it — when we accept it — then the Holy Spirit will be with us not to carry us, but to accompany us, to strengthen us, to renew us, as we do the work to which God has called us.
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
